What works?

We exist for the relief of poverty in Lambeth, with an emphasis on education (very broadly defined) as one of the best routes out of generational disadvantage. For this reason, we attach a high priority to literacy, numeracy and other core skills which increase the likelihood of a lifetime's employability.

A question we always ask when considering applications, especially from organisations and schools, is: is this approach likely to work? And we expect applicants to have explored this question as part of developing their plans. Here we list resources which appear to help answer these questions. If you know of new ones we should include, please tell us. We've put a feedback block at the bottom of the page.

"11-year-old pupils eligible for Free School Meals are around twice as likely not to achieve basic standards in literacy and numeracy as other 11-year-old pupils" The Poverty Site

Education, educational attainment

The Case for Cultural Learning: key research findings Billy Bragg: 'education reforms risk stifling creativity': We were interested to spot Billy Bragg's reference in his 2012 John Peel Lecture to arts and literacy: "Young people do better in English and maths subjects if they study the arts. They are more easily employable, more likely to vote, to volunteer and to get a degree". We asked him where he found his evidence, and he kindly pointed us to the website of the Cultural Learning Alliance.

The Role of Aspirations, Attitudes and Behaviour in Closing the Educational Attainment Gap (April 2012) Low aspirations are often blamed for the poor educational attainment of children who grow up in poverty. This very interesting report found that it was not possible to establish a clear causal relationship between the role of parents' and children's attitudes, aspirations and behaviours, and children's educational attainment. Moreover, the only interventions in this area which showed clear evidence of positive impacts on children's attainment were those that sought to involve parents in their children's education

Toolkit of Strategies to Improve Learning (Sutton Trust June 2011) A review of the kinds of interventions schools might consider which appear to give the most help to disadvantaged pupils at the least expense

General poverty statisticsand researchPoverty - a definition: "Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in the activities, and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or are at least widely encouraged and approved, in the societies in which they belong" Peter Townsend (1979) Poverty in the United Kingdom: a survey of household resources and standards of living, London: Penguin. p. 31

Poverty in London and Lambeth Lambeth is one of the 13 inner London boroughs. Its residents represent the spectrum of wealthy and poor, and the area ranks high in official indices of deprivation. For example, 59% of Lambeth children live in low-income homes.

The Walcot & Hayle's Trustee is a limited company (6133849) registered in England and is the sole trustee of The Walcot Educational Foundation (312800), The Hayle's Charity (312800-1), The Walcot Non Educational Charity (312800-2) and the Cynthia Mosley Memorial Fund (312800-3)